Ex-politician cooks up new D.C. restaurant

They say if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen, but former Rep. David Bonior left the heat of Congress’s kitchen, so to speak, to find himself in yet another one — a real one.

Bonior, who represented a House seat from Michigan from 1976 to 2002 and is a former Democratic whip, left Congress in 2002, and has opened a restaurant in Washington, D.C.’s Yards Park called Agua 301 with his stepson, Stephen Briggs, and Stephen’s wife, Amanda.

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Bonior doesn’t call himself a “foodie” per se, but he says he grew up spending plenty of time cooking, both at home and in the Air Force and that Washington’s culinary offerings “have increased dramatically.”

And it’s those very meals that more politicians should sit down to, he says.

“Getting together over a meal is an excellent way to break bread. If you’re sitting with someone from the other party that you just kind of want to meet and you learn about their families and you learn about their kids and their grandkids and their hobbies, you’re less likely to be nasty and you’re more open to being open about their point of view. And naturally, that’ll lead to a better atmosphere to get work done.”

Bonior says he does miss some people on Capitol Hill, but not the job itself.

“I’ve moved on from that part of my life now,” he said. “I think the government is broken and I think the political process is broken. … It’s not a good system. In many ways, it’s borderline corrupt — the money race — and it’s not good.”